Stocks end day, week lower, but gained in May

Stocks end day, week lower, but gained in May

Stocks fell Friday, with the major indexes posting weekly losses as weaker economic data weighed on markets. But stocks still notched gains for the month, with the Nasdaq getting a 2.6% rocket boost while the Dow and S&P 500 climbed 1% each. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 115 points — 0.6% — to close at 18,010.68. The blue-chip index dropped 1.2% for the week. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index dropped 13 points, or 0.6%, to 2107.39 and the Nasdaq composite index dropped 0.6% to 5070.03. For the week, the S&P 500 was off 0.9% and the Nasdaq lost 0.4%.

Nine of the ten S&P sectors were lower with industrials and financials posting the largest losses. Only energy stocks were higher as oil prices jumped as U.S. supplies declined more than expected. U.S. benchmark crude rose about 3% to $59.65 a barrel. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 2.11% from 2.14% on Thursday. The government reported Friday that the economy actually shrank 0.7% in the first quarter as gross domestic product was revised down from the initial estimate of 0.2% growth.

The contraction was partially blamed on a widening trade deficit and the unusually cold winter. “The record cold winter in the Northeast and the slump in the shale oil industry were the principal reasons why first-quarter GDP apparently shrank by 0.7% annualized,” economist Paul Ashworth of Capital Economics wrote in a note to clients. Investors also had two other disappointing pieces of economic news to work through. A Chicago manufacturing survey fell to 46.2, well below the reading of 53 that economists were anticipating. A report on consumer sentiment fell to a six-month low in May.

European markets plunged as the Greek debt crisis continued to create uncertainty. Germany’s DAX tumbled 2.3% and France’s CAC 40 dropped 2.5%. Britain’s FTSE fell 0.8%. Overseas, China’s Shanghai Composite index saw more volatile trading as it fell 0.8%. That came on top of the 6.5% drop Thursday on moves by the central bank and stricter lending requirements by brokerages. In other parts of Asia, both Japan’s Nikkei and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng were up 0.1%. Thursday, U.S. stocks closed moderately lower as the Dow fell 0.2% to 18,126.12 and the S&P 500 dropped 0.1% to 2120.79.